Pakistan's Covid positivity ratio drops to 3.1 percent, lowest since virus outbreak: FO

(Karachi) Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri has said that the Covid positivity rate in Pakistan declined to 3.1 percent which is the lowest since the outbreak of the deadly disease.

In a tweet on Sunday, Zahid Hafeez said, "Due to effective policies & timely interventions the #COVID19 positivity ratio in Pakistan drops to 3.1%, lowest since the current wave of the pandemic started."

He added that the total active cases in the country are down to 47,764. He maintained, "Heartening to see #PakistanMovingForward in its fight against the pandemic."

During the last 24 hours, at least 76 deaths and 1,629 new cases of coronavirus were reported across the country, bringing the total number of people who have tested positive for the virus since the start of the pandemic to 930,511.

The death toll has reached 21,189 while the total number of critically ill patients is 4,017.

The number of active Covid cases fell below 50,000 for the first time in more than two months, as the positivity rate continued to decline for the fourth consecutive day.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to initiate a vaccination campaign on a massive scale under the "whole of the nation approach" in collaboration with various public and private partners.

The NCOC had set a target to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of this year. Planning Minister Asad Umar said that the acceleration of the vaccination drive in the country was made possible by the huge investment by the federal government.

He added that the government will spend much more next year on the procurement of vaccines.

On June 5, one million more doses of Covid-19 vaccines arrived in Islamabad from China. The shipment arrived on board a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight.

The NCOC said another 11 million doses of China’s Sinovac, CanSino, and Sinopharm vaccines will be brought to Pakistan this month. It said all-out efforts are being made for mass vaccination with an uninterrupted supply of vaccines being ensured across the country.